While restoration projects differ in size and complexity, they typically share common goals including:
- The restoration, stabilization, or expansion of populations of specific species (for example, the Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow and the Miami Blue butterfly)
- The re-establishment of the natural complement of native species in biotic communities (such as the pine rocklands)
- The restoration of the historical spatial extent of habitat types (for example, sea grass beds)
- The restoration of basic physical and ecological processes (for example, sheet flow of water and peat soil production)